I Am Your Mother
by missy52061
Summary: Kate comes home early from work. Written for #Castlethemeday and because I just love the idea of them playing make believe with their kids! Disclaimer: I don't own Castle, I only wish I did.


Kate loved it when she got to leave the office early. She'd get to see her kids – the twins, Hannah and James were now 4, and Alex was 2 – for a while before they had to go to bed. Heck, she could even bathe them. And she loved that she never knew what she would find when she opened the door to their townhouse. She might find all new artwork that they spent all day creating; or she may find Rick having a tea party with the three of them and with as many stuffed animals that could fit around the table. Or they may all be sitting on the couch, watching a Disney movie. But whatever they were doing, they'd stop as soon as they would hear her walk in and they'd run to see her. And that was her favorite part of leaving early.

So here she was putting the key in the lock, and walking in. That was odd – the house seemed quiet. Even if they were all sitting down and reading, she'd usually hear at least one of them reading to Alex. But she didn't hear a thing. She knew they were home because Rick usually shot her a text telling her where they were going. She walked into the living room quietly in case they were napping or something when all of a sudden, Jamie appeared, dressed as a young Jedi knight. Ah, yes. They'd had a "Star Wars" marathon with their father the other day, and Jamie and Hannah always wanted to re-enact the movies especially since Luke and Leia were twins too.

"Mommy, you're home! Can you play Star Wars with us?" he asked as he threw himself at her. As she reached down to hug him, and tell him yes, Rick appeared in the room, holding a tiny Yoda (Alex in a costume) and wearing his Darth Vader mask. Hannah ran in after them, with her hair in Princess Leia buns and dressed in Princess Leia's white pants, shirt and vest. Kate got up from her knees and turned to take Yoda from Darth's arms.

"Hello, Yoda! And Princess Leia, you are looking lovely today!" she said with a grin. So today, they'd indulged in another family favorite activity: acting out scenes from their favorite movies, but with a Castle twist or two. They had dressed up as the Star Wars family for this year's Super Nova-Con, and the kids had loved the costumes she and Rick picked out for them. "Should I go get my Padme costume so I can join in the fun?"

Rick kissed her cheek in greeting, and his eyes sparkled as he grinned at her, but before he could say anything, Hannah answered, "Oh yes, Mommy! We need you to help us fight the bad guys!" Kate laughed as Hannah grabbed her hand and pulled her over to the stairs. "We'll wait here for you, Mommy, okay?" Kate kissed Yoda's cheek and made him giggle before handing him back to Darth.

"Okay, guys, I'll be right back, and ready to fight the bad guys!" Kate ran up the stairs to change into her outfit – a Padme warrior outfit as opposed to Queen Padme, since she won that battle with Rick/Darth. She was back downstairs in no time, and smiled as she saw her family sitting in the living room. She knew Rick and/or Hannah and Jamie had probably created a whole new scenario for this game; the kids always wanted Darth to be a nice guy. To them, no dad could be a Dark Lord of the Sith, so Rick had started to change the story to fit what the kids preferred. And as she walked into the room, and Jamie told her the story he and Hannah had come up with, she was no longer Captain Kate Beckett of the NYPD. She wasn't even Kate Castle, wife of best-selling novelist Richard Castle and mother of three. No, she was Padme, wife to Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader and mother of Luke and Leia. Yoda was going to lead them on an adventure and they were going to save the world. When they were done doing that, there would be pizza and ice cream and baths and bedtimes. But now, Darth handed Padme her light saber as the rest of their battle party picked up theirs. Yoda led the way and they were off, using the Force to make the universe safe.

"May the Force be with you!" Darth/Rick yelled out in his deep voice. Luke/Jamie and Leia/Hannah repeated it in their sweet little voices while Yoda/Alex did his best to say it. Padme/Kate was laughing too hard to say anything but she did enjoy the view as Darth ran after the kids. She wasn't sure what made her happiest: hearing her kids laugh as they played make believe, watching Rick be a great dad or the back view she got as he ran in front of her. All of it was good, she decided. The Force was with her and that was a good thing.


End file.
